JeffCon 2019 Recap

Our (seventh annual) JeffCon weekend up at Lake Kachess was last week, and we once again brought a mix of old classics and new games to try out. Here are some of the games we played this year:

• Greed Incorporated - This business game had a number of aspects that I enjoyed, and it reminded me of a 18XX game without the railroads.  Each player runs one or more companies and attempts to make their financial statements look as good as possible.  If you don't increase your earnings from last turn, some of those in leadership positions will get "the boot".  Which isn't all bad, as there is typically a hefty exit bonus involved.  Those nice bonuses provide cash that players use to buy victory points and win the game.  I enjoyed the business part, but the victory points seemed to add a unnecessary layer of complication - I would have preferred to have the winner be the player with the most cash at the end of the game.
• Isle of Skye - We played this old favorite with the new Druids expansion, which adds another buying round that can help out players recover from a bad start.  I enjoyed it and was able to win the game with a enclosed scroll which provided a huge bonus at the end for all my completed areas, (for which I had many - mainly from the new purchasing round). 
• High Society - This was a fun bidding game and I joined the group late in one of the later plays.  The player with the highest score wins unless they have the least amount of money left over.  This rule allowed me to end up winning the game with the second highest total....
• Star Wars: Destiny - Last year I introduced the group to Star Wars: Destiny using a home-brewed co-operative game.  Since then, we have played a large number of two-player matches against one another.  I still find the game to be quick and enjoyable and also have had fun constructing my different decks.  We ended up doing a draft, which took a number of hours, but provided a ton of rounds of matches.
• Diamonds - This trick-taking game was similar to Hearts, but adds a "suit action" that allows you to take an action after winning a hand.  It was simple and a good late evening game.
• KeyForge - I was able to finally try out a game of KeyForge, the card game by Richard Garfield which was announced at last year's GenCon.  Every card is part of a “house", and each house has different qualities.  Each unique deck is composed of cards from exactly three houses, all mixed together.  I really enjoyed the game and I'm excited to try out the other decks I've collected over the last year.
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - For the first time in over two decades we ran an RPG.  We used old V1 rules and characters, and as GM I enjoyed presenting my Old World scenario which took place in a small hamlet and a nearby mining camp.
• Battlestar Galactica - This old classic hadn't been played in awhile and so it took us some time to get back into the swing of things.  Once we did, we all enjoyed the suspicion, intrigue, and fun accusations it provides.  The Cylons won suddenly after it had appeared that the humans would have a smooth pathway to victory....

Warhammer Underworlds - Mollog and Friends

I recently painted up Mollog's Mob for the Warhammer: Underworlds game.  We have played the game a few times and found it to be a good, light multi-player game.  As a warband, Mollog’s Mob is focused around Mollog - a single, brutally powerful troll.  His much weaker friends provide some fun abilities and offer various distractions for opponents.

The miniatures were simple and fun to paint up - just I primed Mollog in purple with blue zenithal highlights.  I them just base-coated significant areas, then dipped each model, per my usual method.  I simply used metallic Sharpie pen for metal items.  I think they turned out well for a couple of hours of painting time in total.

Happy American Independence Day!

On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress declared that the thirteen American colonies were no longer subject to the monarch of Britain and were now united, free, and independent states.

 

Happy American Independence Day to those in the United States.  Please act in a safe manner in regards to fireworks, water activities, and cooking on the grill, and work to ensure nobody gets hurt as they celebrate our nation's birth.

15mm Superhero Gaming - Winged Hussar and Wotjek 3000 Character Sheets

Winged Hussar was created in a laboratory experiment by HYDRA.  Franciszek "Frank" Danielkiewicz was a member of the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade - the Polish Black Brigade.  After his capture in 1939, an early experimental prototype super soldier serum was injected into Frank to test its effects.  The serum worked well, and gave Frank super strength, speed, and stamina.  HYDRA immediately froze Frank in an cryogenic tank, where he remained until his recent release.  He now fights for the freedom and honor of his homeland Poland, and well as for all those who value freedom and democracy.

S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly recruited Winged Hussar and provided him with some of its most advanced technology.  Wotjek 3000 is a meta-physical spirit projection - a spectral bear, and Winged Hussar's sidekick, (don't say ghost - most ghosts can't rip you from limb to limb with one swipe of a claw). Winged Hussar can summon Wojtek 3000 via his spectral projector console which is part of his left handed-gauntlet, (which also magnetically attaches to his vibranium shield).

"Forgotten Heroes" 2019 - Update #5

For my Forgotten Heroes 2019 submission, I present Winged Hussar and his meta-physical spirit projection - Wotjek 3000:

I will soon post the origin stories and the character sheets for Winged Hussar and Wotjek 3000 for use in my custom 15mm superhero ruleset, (loosely based on Flames of War rules).

I'd like to thank the Carrion Crow’s Buffet website for hosting this year's Forgotten Heroes event.  It was a fun event and provided a great encouragement for me to create and paint up a superhero!

"Forgotten Heroes" 2019 - Update #4

To start on the bear, I used the Citadel Technical paint called Hexwraith Flame.  It provided the ghostly green I was looking for with just one coat.  I then lightly dry-brushed using pure white and I was done!  For my Polish superhero, I simply started with a primary basecoat of red, white, and black.  I then added a few details for the lower face (flesh) and eyes (blue wash).

I then painted each base in a leather brown, similar to my other superhero miniatures.  I used my normal dipping method on each of the figures, (but did not use any dip on the green portions of the bear - only the base).

Next up - just a quick matte finish (to take away the shine), a few additional details on the superhero, and then will come the flocking of the bases....

"Forgotten Heroes" 2019 - Update #3

In developing my superhero for the Forgotten Heroes 2019 event, I decided to create a custom superhero based on the country of Poland, as well as giving him an appropriate sidekick.

I took inspiration from the Winged Hussars - a type of shock cavalry used by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th through 18th centuries that were known for their prowess on the battlefield. The Winged Hussars are celebrated for their important role in the Siege of Vienna in 1683, when the Polish army led by John III Sobieski, King f Poland, saved Vienna (and likely all of Europe) from Ottoman domination. For my superhero's colors, I decided on the colors of the Polish flag - white and red, with some black and gold accents.

For his sidekick, I decided on an idea to have a physically-projected meta-ghost/hologram of Wotjek, the the beloved brown bear that officially served in the Polish army during World War II. As for the color of his miniature, I decided on a ghostly green to test out one of Citadel's green technical paints....

"Forgotten Heroes" 2019 - Update #2

To continue this year's Forgotten Heroes 2019 event, I pre-based the miniatures using my normal method - model sand.  I couldn't find any of the finer sand I usually use, so I opted for a thicker sand which I hoped would provide similar results.

Once the superglue was set, I primed both figures white with a cheap white "paint plus primer".  Unfortunately, it had to go on a pretty thick in order to fully cover the sand I decided to use, which meant I lost some of the detail of the models.  I also needed the bear to be a bright white for the idea I had for him, so I also had to over-prime that miniatures with some quality Citadel Corax White spray primer.

The painting method I work to achieve for most 15mm miniatures is "extreme contrast", so I don't rely as much on the detail of the miniature itself for differentiation of color.  I'm hoping the thick prime coat won't matter too much for the final result.

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen..."

The Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II happened seventy-five years ago today. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history.

My maternal grandfather was in the Pacific (in the Navy) and my paternal grandfather was stateside (in the Coast Guard) during the landings, but my great-uncle Dominic Sardarov (my grandmother's brother-in-law) served in the Army and drove a supply truck after the beachhead was established.  When I was young I enjoyed hearing his war stories.

Thank you to all who served and those who serve.

"Forgotten Heroes" 2019 - Update #1

I kicked-off this year's Forgotten Heroes 2019 by choosing and assembling my wargaming miniature superhero.  The superhero is from Old Glory SuperFigs S15B - 15mm Supers # 2, a collection of 15mm miniatures of which I have used most of the other figures in the pack for various custom (as well as licensed) superheros over the years:

• The Legacy
• Bronze Basilisk 
• Star Flare 
• Plasma Man (and Minions) 
• Captain America and Black Widow

I also wanted my superhero to have a bear sidekick....  That miniature is from Copplestone Castings FM09 - 15mm Cave Bears, which was ordered once I entered the event.

More on the planned identities of these new superheroes later - for now I just want to focus on the simple assembly of the miniatures themselves.  I just glued the miniatures to old Flames of War bases, which I continue to use because I started my superhero wargaming by having Captain America available in Flames of War sessions.  For the superhero, I decided to give him a round shield, which was punched out from plasticard.  Next up - pre-basing and priming.

"Forgotten Heroes" 2019

This year's Forgotten Heroes 2019 kicks off tomorrow, and I'm happy to report that Mezmaron's Lair will be taking part in the event this year. This year's themed event is all about patriotic superheroes, and you can read about the rules of the event on the Carrion Crow’s Buffet website. During the month of June, I will create a single wargaming miniature representing a costumed patriotic hero.

I intend to create and paint up a 15mm superhero from the great nation of Poland for this year's event.

In addition, even if not part of the official event, will be a 15mm sidekick miniature based on a famous bear from Poland's World War II campaign in Italy....

Painting Blood Bowl Imps Using Only Washes

One technique I haven't used much when painting is painting miniatures using only washes.  I tried the technique on some Imps from Impact Miniatures that I plan on using in a custom variant of Blitz Bowl.

I first primed the Imps white.  I then shaded their skin with a yellow wash, then washed the skin with a green wash once that was dry.  The red and purple areas were first washed, then hit with a coat of Vallejo paint when the wash colors weren't saturated enough for my tastes.  I finally hit the silver parts with a metallic Sharpie marker.  So... it ended up that I did not only painting them with washes, but with a mixture of techniques instead.

These are first miniatures that I haven't used a dipping media on in a long time.  They turned out fairly bright, and for the very minimal time I spent painting them, I'm happy with the results....

Game of Thrones Season 8: Diamond Thrones

After seven seasons and sixty-seven episodes of Game of Thrones, only a half a dozen episodes remain.  Tomorrow is the start of the final season and the beginning to the end of the epic story.

I started reading A Game of Thrones after my friends and I first played Fantasy Flight Games' boardgame in the mid-2000s.  I read the first few books and became very excited after it was rumored that HBO was pursuing the rights to the series.  I distinctly remember talking about that possibility with my manager over dinner one night in California, after a company training.  He was also reading the series.

The first season of Game of Thrones aired in 2011 and I remember that early that season my mother called us interrupting a Sunday episode, and asked us to turn on the television.  It was May 1, 2011, and President Obama had just announced the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

I'm pleased that HBO corrected some of the errors of Martin’s unfocused later books.  I'm also very surprised how the series has entered the mainstream popular culture.  I'm excited to see how HBO finishes the series and what is to come.  Chaos is a ladder....

Stratego Waterloo

My dad and I are always trying out new games in our father-son weekends that occur every few months.  In our last one, we decided to unwrap and play Stratego Waterloo, which recreates the Battle of Waterloo, fought way back on Sunday, 18 June 1815.  On that day, the French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by a British-led allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army under the command of Field Marshal Blücher.

Playing the original Stratego against my dad is one of my first memories of playing boardgames, and I was excited to try this version and refight the Battle of Waterloo. I played Emperor Napoleon, and my dad took the Duke of Wellington.  The winner in this version of the game is the first player that succeeds in severing the lines of retreat of the opposite player (occupying the flank of the opponent).  The game is also lost if a player loses his commander and commander in chief.

The French took a heavy toll on the British early game, but once the Prussians entered the fray, the artillery of the French was quickly destroyed in flanking maneuvers.  Cavalry succeeded on both sides winnowing down opposing forces.  In the end, Napoleon was hunted down and defeated by an elite English infantry unit, and the battle was lost for the French.

Stratego Waterloo is a light wargame, but more heavy than the original Stratego.  You definitely experience the give and take feel of the lines of battle and your use of cavalry to make thrusts into the enemy lines is a key factor in success.  The French made good use of its cavalry early game, but once the Prussians entered the battle, it turned the tide of battle.  Vive La France!

Axis & Allies: Naval Battles

Lately, over the last few gamenights we have been playing Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures.  The game was produced by Wizards of the Coast as a sister product to its Axis & Allies Miniatures game, (which we have never played).  The game has a simple (but strategic) gameplay, and a typical game can be completed in under an hour.

In the game, players can takes command of ships and squadrons of aircraft.  The ships run the range from aircraft carriers and battleships, to cruisers, to destroyers, to submarines, to auxiliary ships and even motor torpedo boats.

My main fleet is the French Navy, which works great as it can be used as either Allied (Free French) or Axis (Vichy France).  I have the complete set of official offerings:

• Algérie (Cruiser)
• Béarn (Aircraft Carrier)
• Casabianca (Submarine)
• Dewoitine D.520 (Fighter)
• Dunkerque (Battleship)
• Jean Bart (Battleship)
• Gloire (Light Cruiser)
• Lamotte-Piquet (Cruiser)
• Milan (Destroyer)
• Strasbourg (Battleship)
• Provence (Battleship)
• Richelieu (Battleship)
• Suffren (Cruiser)
• Le Terrible (Destroyer)
• V.156 Vindicator (Torpedo Plane)

I have a few other ships from various other fleets, including a German contingent that includes the Bismark and the Prinz Eugen.  I also have a small British fleet, and a contingent of smaller nations (like Poland).

The biggest issue now is that the game was released in 2007, but only lasted with official releases until 2011.  This means obtaining the models at reasonable prices can be hard.  The others in our group have bought some of the more inexpensive offerings from Ebay and other online dealers and inherited some of our more least-played fleets.

We are looking forward to more multi-player games and I'd also like to try out a Battle of the River Plate scenario, as we have the ships top recreate that fateful battle....

Blitz Bowl - Five Player Dungeon Bowl

After successfully trying out a four player 'Crossroads' game for Blitz Bowl a few months back, we decided next to use some old Warhammer Quest tiles and some Frostgrave chests to play a five player Dungeon Bowl game.

Dungeon Bowl is a variant of Blood Bowl that uses chests which either explode or contain a ball.  There are also twelve teleporters that can be used to randomly teleport players around the dungeon (using a roll of a D12).  As you can imagine, Dungeon Bowl using Blitz Bowl rules is even more chaotic and random than a normal game of Blitz Bowl....

The first part of the game was each team searching for the ball hidden in one of the trapped chests scattered throughout the dungeon.  Unfortunately, we quickly realized that the game wasn't working well.  The high number of players we had selected and the small width of the corridors made movement difficult, even with the teleporters.

So Dungeon Bowl using Blitz Bowl rules was a bust, but I'm still glad we tried it out.  It makes me more excited for future regular games of Blitz Bowl, as well as curious to try out other multiplayer variants.  I'm considering making a custom three player mat in the near future.

Flames of War: 'Nam - Viet Cong Local Forces Infantry Battalion

After almost four years of working on them off and on, this weekend I finally completed my Viet Cong Local Forces Infantry Battalion for Flames of War: 'Nam.

Since I started the force, the new 'Nam book was released which changed some options.  I custom created a sniper model that can't be used, and a few of the command stands are no longer needed. In all, with off-table artillery and Guerilla Booby Traps, I can assemble just over 50 points under the new rules.

I built the machine gun nests out of toothpicks and greenstuff, but most of the miniatures are a mix of Battlefront's miniatures and the Viet Minh offerings from Eureka Miniatures.  Although the Viet Minh miniatures are not ideal for this time period, I found that they sized better for the 15mm scale look I was going for, and they mix in with Battlefront's official miniatures well enough.

The Eureka miniatures are more based on the traditional pith helmet, and I wanted to go more with the look in this photo, as opposed to the conical leaf hat so predominately featured in Battlefront miniatures.

Looking forward to putting on some Creedence and getting in a game soon.  I'm also hoping to be able to leverage some of the miniatures for some 15mm Superhero gaming, perhaps in a time-travel capacity.

"Painting" 40K Poxwalkers with Sharpie Pens

As we have been playing Warhammer 40,000: Killteam, I have been attempting to speed paint a number of small forces to try out with the game.  Before this latest attempt, I painted a squad of three Chaos Marines with some Sharpies a little while ago.

One of my most recent attempts has been to paint some Poxwalkers, using Army Painter color primer and Sharpie pens.  After priming them green, (with a zenithal overprime of a lighter green primer), I used Sharpies before dipping them using Royal Walnut Satin Mixwax Polyshade.  I used normal acrylics to paint the the bases and added some flocked foliage to complete the models.  I used a silver Sharpie for the eyes which turned out looking great.

In all, they turned out alright, and the approach did save some time over painting them with acrylics.  Because the model are Nurgle, the dipping method definitely worked better than it would have on other types of models, where a more clean look is appropriate.

Blitz Bowl - Four Player Crossroads

I completed a custom four player "Crossroads" pitch for Blitz Bowl games before the holidays.  It was made from some felt from JOANN Fabrics and Crafts and a black Sharpie pen, (I tried to use a white fabric marker, but it went dry much too easily and had to switch to the Sharpie early on).

Over the holidays we played a few four-player games on it and have had a great time each time we have played.

The rules are a little different - the first team to score ten points wins....  You get five points for a touchdown and one point for causing an injury.  We use two balls at all times and the only rule we changed (in addition to no cards) is that if a player starts your turn prone, you can attempt to injure that player by using a Block action; if you roll a result that forces an armor roll, there is a -2 penalty to the armor roll. It is a benefit to crunchy teams....

In the center, we placed a single statue of Nuffle, which also throws out the balls at the start of the game (and whenever a touchdown is scored).

Our first game was Skaven vs. Chaos vs. Orcs vs. Dwarfs. The Skaven scored on the second turn (due to their 9 Move), but in the end the Chaos pulled off two touchdowns with some smash and grabs.  Scoring is hard, but if you are opportunistic, can happen fast, just like in the standard game.  All teams scored at least one TD, except for the Orcs, (they were too busy smashing, and rolled terribly most of the game).

For our second game, we played Elves vs. Orcs vs. Chaos vs. Goblins.  This game was fast - just 30 minutes. The Goblins won this time, and again, all teams but one scored at least one touchdown.

We are looking forward to additional games, and perhaps using some Warhammer Quest tiles to play a version of Dungeon Bowl using the Blitz Bowl mechanics.

Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team - Session Report

Over the recent break we had a chance to play a small, three-player, fifty-point game of Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team.  There was a Nurgle force, a Chaos Space Marine force, and I played a Necron force.  The Nurgle force was comprised of all Nurgle Marines, the Chaos Space Marines included three Chaos Marines and two cultists (one with a Heavy Stubber who stayed back all game), and the Necrons included just three Immortals.

The game featured a high-elevation objective, which awarded ten points per turn that it was held unchallenged. 

There were a number of avenues to approach the objective, and Nurgle made a mad dash to the objective, while the Necrons and Chaos Marines tried to shoot them from afar (with little effect).

By mid-game, every force had all assembled near the center objective, and the game turned into a massive, multi-team melee.

In the end, the massive melee turned into a boring roll-fest.  The three forces were so strong on defense and so weak on offense that the rolling went on several turns without one casualty.

The Nurgle force eventually dominated close combat (thanks to their extreme durability and plague weapons) and won the game by defeating a few Chaos Marines, thereby reaching fifty points to achieve victory.

Although a fun learning game, we decided that next game we would likely change the objective placement and win conditions.  We also decided that each team would have benefited from bringing a few more special and heavy weapons into the battle.

We look forward to future battles using our Kill Team forces!

Merry Christmas!

Best holiday wishes to you and yours....

Games Workshop's Blitz Bowl - A Review

Over the last few weeks we have been been painting up models for Blitz Bowl, while also getting more than a few plays of it in.  We have all found Blitz Bowl to be a great two-player game - very different from Blood Bowl, but enjoyable in a very unique way.

It is fast to play, provides a ton of strategy and choices, and the game provides additional team cards (apart from the Humans and Orcs) that allow you to use additional teams.  This was a great choice by Games Workshop and makes the game extensible with additional models, providing much more variety in match-ups.

The Challenge Cards are what make the game shine; they provide randomness and enhance the flavor of the game by taking some of the focus off of just scoring touchdowns.

We have models for most of the teams now and it seems that they are all mostly balanced for our style of play.  If we had to pick a weaker team, it would appear to be the Elves.  Although good at passing, they have a really poor armor stat and are not as fast as the Skaven.  This could just be our own experience because we haven't seen a lot of passing in our games.  All of the other teams seem to have useful benefits that make them more or less competitive.

I've only fully painted up one full team so far (my female Dwarfs), but I'm hoping to paint up the Humans soon.  We are also hoping to get a few more games in, (including some four-player games using a custom pitch I created).

If you are interested, there is additional information about the game on the Warhammer Community website, including a Watch It Played video explaining the rules.

Blitz Bowl is available only from Barnes and Noble and is well worth its price of $44.95.

Gaslands - Five Player Saturday Night Live

Over the weekend I hosted a twelve-hour game day at my place.  For our Gaslands game, we played Saturday Night Live (demolition derby) and we each took one of five different vehicles (around 20 cans each):

• Ballbreaker (Truck)
• Dinoblaster (Truck)
• Hell Camino (Car)
• Knightrunner (Performance Car)
• The Buggy (Buggy)

This time we didn't place a turret in the middle of the board like our last game as we wanted to encourage more interaction in the center.

I played Ballbreaker, a truck with front facing ram and two loadouts of grenades.  I took a ton of damage early from Hell Camino, but got my revenge with a Hard turn where I rammed it head-on.  We both took a ton of damage from the ram.  I was destroyed the next turn and exploded, (which worked out well as I was hosting and needed to head out to grab dinner).

While I was gone, Dinoblaster survived to the end to once again be crowned champion....  With two victories in a row now, Juice's experience playing X-Wing must be translating well to Gaslands....

Gaslands - A Very Griswold Saturday Night Live

In our first game of Gaslands, we played Death Race, so this time we decided on playing Saturday Night Live, (which is more a demolition derby style of game).  In the middle of the board, we placed The Griswold as the turret, which seemed appropriate as we started the holiday season....

The game was much more dynamic than our first game, with a ton of maneuvering and different types of attacks being made each turn.  The buggy was the first to be defeated, and soon after my car, Flameblaster, was destroyed by some rockets fired from Juice's truck, Dinoblaster. 

It felt like we finally got down the mechanics of the game this time, and it made the game go much faster.  We are looking forward to trying Gaslands a few more times over the upcoming holidays.

Flames of War: The Great War - French Renault FT-17s

Battlefront released The Great War supplement for Flames of War back in 2014, but I only recently completed painting my two FT-17 tanks for my French "Polish Army in France" army.

The FT-17 was a French light tank with its armament within a fully rotating turret - many consider it the world's first modern tank.

With the upcoming new Great War book getting released in March, I'm hoping to complete the rest of my French "Polish Army in France" army soon....